Sleep In Heavenly Peace

SLEEP IN HEAVENLY PEACE

There are times when it's hard to get to sleep. It can be because we had caffeine too late in the day or we had a snack too close to bedtime and now we're paying for it. Then there are other reasons-you have a deadline to meet and you're not ready. You have an appointment and you're anticipating a bad outcome.

I read an article where the writer posed a question: "what keeps you up at night?" He was referring to the things that consume our thoughts; issues, problems or situations where stress and anxiety cause us to get less sleep than we'd like.

I know it's way too early to think about Christmas songs but when I was thinking of a title for this sermon my mind went to this line in Silent Night and I thought, 'what better sleep could there be than to sleep in heavenly peace?' Let's see what the bible says about it.

1) Sleep despite turmoil.

The heading of Psalm 3 refers to when David fled from Absalom. David's son Absalom rebelled and wanted to rule Israel. He devised a conspiracy and began to gain a following until he was ready to make his move.

When Absalom wanted something he took extreme measures to get it. When he called for Joab, commander of David's army, to come see him he didn't come. He called a second time with the same result. What did he do then? He had Joab's fields set on fire. That got Joab to come.

David knew his son. When the report came that the hearts of the men of Israel were now with Absalom, David said this in

2nd Sam. 15:14, "Then David said to all his officials who were with him in Jerusalem, 'Come! We must flee, or none of us will escape from Absalom. We must leave immediately, or he will move quickly to overtake us and bring ruin upon us and put the city to the sword."

So the chase was on. But despite all this turmoil and chaos, David could sleep!

Psalm 3:1-6, "O LORD, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him.” But you are a shield around me, O LORD; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head. To the LORD I cry aloud, and he answers me from his holy hill. I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me. I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side."

I'm sure David was deeply sorrowful that his son had turned against him. He would be consumed with the fact that his own son was after him. Then there's the fear of the very real threat of him being able to follow through with his plan.

Add the fact that it wasn't only his son that turned against him it was all those who were once loyal to him who had joined Absalom. Then you have what was being said-'God will not deliver him'. That can get inside your head and cause you to doubt. How could anyone sleep with all this on their mind?

He knew that God was his shield; his protector. David knew he wasn't perfect but he also knew the Lord's glory was upon him. If you read on David cries out for deliverance and for God to deal with his enemies. Then he acknowledges that deliverance comes from the Lord.

As he laid his head to rest he might have recalled when the Lord delivered him from the hands of king Saul when he was hunting him down. God delivered him and he replaced Saul as king. He could draw from that experience. He lied down to sleep believing he would wake up the next morning because he knew the Lord sustained him; he kept him going.

We may not face anything like what David did but there are times when we are dealing with turmoil, chaos, maybe even betrayal, like David. We could easily lie awake at night, wondering how these tense situations are going to work out. David had a lot on his mind but he was able to quiet his mind and go to sleep because of his trust in the Lord. He trusted in God's protection and ability to hold him up as well as lift him up.

When we can't get to sleep because our minds are going a million miles an hour worrying about all our troubling situations, we can rest in the Lord's protection and love for us as his child. We rest in knowing he will deal with it and even if everything doesn't work out the way we think it should we'll be okay because we are sustained by the Lord. Sleep despite turmoil.